Jackie Rodriguez claims 3-year-old autistic son was bitten on bus

A Bronx mother claims her three-year-old was viciously bitten on the school bus, and is now demanding answers from school officials. Jackie Rodriguez says a bus company and special-needs school are

News 12 Staff

Jul 23, 2014, 1:01 AM

Updated 3,732 days ago

Share:

A Bronx mother claims her three-year-old was viciously bitten on the school bus, and is now demanding answers from school officials.
Jackie Rodriguez says a bus company and special-needs school are not acknowledging the mark on the cheek of her son, Anthony Zapata. Rodriguez believes another child chomped down on her son's face on his first day riding the Philips Transportation-owned bus.
She claims the bus matron admitted the day after the alleged incident that Anthony, who has autism, was bitten. The mom says her son's pediatrician confirmed the mark was not ringworm, which was what the school initially said that it was.
Rodriguez says the Department of Education told her it could not guarantee that an incident like this would not happen again. The child has not been back to school or on the bus since then.
The frustrated parent says she chose to send her son to the Learning Center in Manhattan because of the lack of specialized schools in her neighborhood. Rodriguez has filed a complaint with the bus company and is demanding a meeting with the DOE to get to the bottom of the issue.
News 12 The Bronx was referred to the DOE after reaching out to Philips Transportation. The DOE says it is investigating the complaint.